Re: [Full-disclosure] tar alternative

[Aaron Gray <angray@xxxxxxxx>]

Tim wrote:
> > Don't. Untar. Archives. As. Root.
> >
> > It's that simple.
> >
> > Or are you also going to complain about the fact that there are tar
> > versions out there that don't strip a leading / from the archive?
> > Much fun can be had when you carelessly extract as root, then.
> >     
>
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to change the subject slightly here on this thread, but I was
> wondering about this before the topic came up.
>
> Given the problems with using the tar format for file distribution, are
> there any other simple, non-compressed file-grouping formats out there
> that weren't originally designed for backups (e.g. don't contain
> usernames, permissions, etc)?  Something that can be a drop-in
> replacement for tar and thus can integrate with gzip/bzip2 easily?
> (Don't even say .zip)
>
> There's probably one out there I'm completely naive about, but I haven't
> seen one yet that would be a safer alternative.
>
>   

cpio ?

It does the job of both tar and gzip. Try an :-

      info cpio

As for the Linux Kernel archives, I do not really think there is enough 
justification for a change in distribution format.

Most kernel coders either use non root account for untar'ing and making 
the kernel and do a 'sudo make install' anyway.

My 0.02cents worth,

Aaron

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